


At Odds

by tamerofdarkstars



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Conversations, Episode 5, Episode Tag, F/M, Fiona and Rhys and Yvette have a conversation, Missing Scene, No way was Yvette not bitter as hell about the way things transpire, Pre-Relationship, Wish we'd gotten a conversation between these guys in canon, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, ah well, because let's be real, have a fic that explores that possiblity, i'm still trash for tales from the borderlands, surprise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-17 00:43:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12353874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamerofdarkstars/pseuds/tamerofdarkstars
Summary: Fiona runs into Yvette at Vaughn's Desert Camp for Hyperion Refugees™.  They have a conversation. It goes about as well as can be expected.





	At Odds

**Author's Note:**

> Plot spoilers for episodes 4 and 5 ahead! 
> 
> Quick fic about what a conversation between our protagonists and Yvette might be after the events of episode 4. This assumes that you choose to save Yvette and takes place after Loader Bot reveals its identity and Vaughn appears in all his sculpted bearded glory. 
> 
> Hinted future Rhyiona because i'm still absolute trash for these two

Vaughn's little hidden kingdom in the desert rocks reminded Fiona a lot of the stories she used to read aloud to Sasha at night when they were kids. The stories of a wild band of mysterious mercenaries whose sole purpose seemed to be to whisk children out of their humdrum lives and take them in, raising them to be warriors and loving them like family.

And Vaughn seemed more at home here, in the desert, with his beard grown out and his clothes loose than he had when Fiona had first met him. He'd been such a squirrelly little man, twisting his hands and snapping off words and scowling in Rhys' general direction whenever his friend so much as dared to put a toe in the path of danger.

Although, that part hadn't changed. Fiona grinned to herself as Vaughn whacked Rhys upside the head with a bottle of sunblock.

Rhys took it, pouting at his friend. The big bad newly minted Atlas CEO, brought to a pout by a bottle of sunblock. All around them, ex-Hyperion survivors were scraping out their living, moving from task to task with an ingrained efficiency. They didn't look quite as lost as Fiona had first thought.

Her eyes found Rhys again. Rhys, who hadn't died at the hands of Handsome Jack when Hyperion crashed to Pandora. Rhys, who'd told the end of his story to her and to Loader Bot in a quiet, halting voice, his flesh fingers curled around his new shiny metal wrist.

Rhys, who'd ripped out his own implant rather than allow Handsome Jack to hurt anyone else with his body.

Rhys... who was looking at her. Shit.

Fiona blinked. "Huh? What? Sorry."

Rhys flashed her a grin. "What, couldn't take your eyes off me?"

It was closer to the truth than Rhys knew and Fiona huffed. "Yeah, right. You wish."

Rhys' smile went from teasing to soft. Fiona wondered briefly when it was that he'd stopped throwing that arrogant smirk her way and started honestly smiling at her. Had it been as recent as their march across the desert? "Vaughn needs us to gather some supplies. I think I saw stuff I can salvage back near where we came. Can you poke around in there? Look for anything useful."

"Anything useful – real descriptive, Rhys."

"Fine. Anything metal and shiny? Grab it."

He gave her a lazy wave and trotted off in the direction they'd come. Fiona watched him go, then stuffed the feelings bubbling in her heart firmly back towards the pit of her stomach as she turned toward the wreckage.

It was a listing structure, tipping wildly to one side and Fiona slipped inside before she could think about the whole thing collapsing in on her head. Sure, running with the Vault Hunters was dumping points into her skills almost faster than she could keep up, but an unnecessary risk was still an unnecessary risk.

There wasn't much inside this particular hunk of metal. Fiona scanned the space for anything useful and nearly jumped out of her skin when a shadow in the corner shifted and then moved.

A woman – dark skin, pretty – examined her as she stood up. She must have been sitting in the shadows in the corner, out of the way of the hustle and bustle outside.

Fiona recognized her. She flashed back to a jail cell, to an agonized expression on Rhys' face, to the pleading voice of the woman in front of her.

"Hey," Fiona said carefully.

"Hi." Yvette was giving her a similar once over.

"Yvette, right?" Fiona asked and Yvette nodded, the motion sharp and a little jerky.

"That's me. For what it's worth."

Well. This was supremely awkward. Fiona wondered if she could just slip right back out into the hot desert sun and pretend this never happened. "I'm Fiona."

"Oh yeah. I know." Yvette shook her head, crossing her arms over her tattered uniform remnants. "Vaughn’s mentioned you."

"Oh. That's... nice?"

Yvette fell silent, kicking at a rock in the dirt. Fiona looked at her and felt a stab of pity. Then she thought of Rhys and the upset twist to his lips, the catch in his voice when he'd told her over the comms that Yvette had betrayed them to Vasquez and squashed the pity.

"How could you?" Fiona asked, quietly. Yvette pressed her lips together. "You were their friend, weren’t you?"

"Ha. Friends. There was no such thing on Helios."

"You know, I used to think so too. But Rhys and Vaughn—"

Yvette's eyes flashed and her lips turned down in a stubborn frown. "Don't pretend like you know them. What, because you went on some adventure? You think you _know_ Rhys? Do you have any idea what he did to claw his way to the top? They don't just give implants like that to anyone, you know. They upgraded him because they thought he was climbing the ladder."

Fiona folded her arms, her temper flaring hot. "I think you're the one who doesn't really know him anymore. Maybe you never did because you were too busy scheming up ways to get him killed to make a quick buck."

"Like that wasn't your plan the moment you laid eyes on them, Pandoran," Yvette sneered. "He's killed people, you know."

"So have I." Well, bandits and psychos. People who were trying to kill her. Still, it counted.

"I mean slaughtered. Innocent people. On purpose. In the name of the Hyperion mission."

Fiona scowled, Yvette's words burrowing under her skin. It was hard to reconcile the goofy Rhys she knew with the image Yvette was presenting, but somewhere in the ugly part of her mind, she knew it was probably true. She'd seen the truth reflected in Rhys' eyes as he mumbled his way through the beginning of his story back at the campsite.

Fiona opened her mouth but a quiet voice behind her cut her off before she could start.

"Don't, Fiona. She's right."

Fiona and Yvette looked as one at the makeshift doorway. Rhys stood there, a frown tugging his lips down. His eyes were fixed on Yvette.

"I know perfectly well what I did to climb that ladder," he said quietly. Yvette suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I'm not proud of a lot of it. Maybe I was once, but hey, I also idolized Handsome Jack once and that didn't go so hot either."

He ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing a piece back into place. A nervous tick. Fiona wondered if he'd had it on Helios or if it has developed on Pandora.

He glanced at Fiona. "And I know you didn't trust me. You didn't have a reason to. I didn’t trust you either, honestly. But..." He shrugged, a little helpless, and gave her a tiny smile. "You stood in Scooter's garage and called me a friend. That... meant something. Still does."

Fiona felt heat prickle the back of her neck and she cleared her throat, looking down and away, studying the ground. It has come out without her brain's permission, back then. Just popped out of her mouth without thinking but... well, it meant something to her too, now. Friends were often just as rare on Pandora.

"But Yvette," Rhys continued. "You _were_ my friend. At least, I thought you were. You and Vaughn – you both got offered the same deal to betray me to Vasquez, you know. Vaughn only pretended to take it. You actually tried to kill me."

He shoved both hands deep in his pockets, hunching his shoulders. "Fiona's right. You don't know me any more. Pandora made me realize some things – and if it hadn't, and I'd still been the same guy who organized that Eridium mining operation, you'd have died in that jail cell."

His voice was flat, completely without inflection, and in that instant Fiona caught a glimpse of what Rhys could have been. What he’d been on his way to becoming. The tilt of his chin, the unapologetic set to his jaw – a Rhys decked head to toe in Hyperion emblazoned business casual battle armor, overlooking a deal on a screen that slaughtered planets.

Then it was gone and her Rhys was standing there again, the Rhys who wore bright socks, who made cocky jokes and pouted when she didn't laugh. The Rhys who'd turned pink when she'd called them friends in Scooter's garage and the Rhys who'd stared wildly at her from the other side of a blast door and begged her not to leave him behind.

Fiona realized suddenly that she was staring at him again and he was looking back at her and she tore her eyes away, glancing at Yvette, who was looking between them with a calculating expression on her face.

"So that's it," Yvette said, putting her hands on her hips. "It's you two against the world. How touching."

Fiona raised an eyebrow and Rhys shook his head. "Look, Yvette, it's fine. Well, no, it's not fine, I'm actually still pretty pissed at you, but I don't want to argue now. We have actual things to do. Let's go, Fiona."

Not a moment too soon. Fiona headed for the open air outside the entrance. Rhys stepped aside to let her go first and Yvette rolled her eyes.

"Use protection, kids," she called sarcastically and Fiona actually stumbled in surprise.

Rhys cleared his throat and when she shot him a glance, she was surprised to see his ears were tinged bright red.

"Go to hell, Yvette!" he called back, purposefully avoiding Fiona’s gaze.

"Already there, Rhys."

Rhys hurried Fiona along, away from Yvette.

"She's, ah..." Rhys began, before awkwardly clearing his throat again. "She's obviously... er, that is..."

"Yeah. Absolutely." Fiona jumped in, cutting him off. She could feel the back of her neck burning, but didn't think that one could be blamed on the harsh Pandoran sunshine.

There was an awkward silence as they walked together back to where Vaughn was directing groups of people to various tasks. He side-eyed them as they approached.

"Yikes. You're both super red. Put the damn sunscreen on, Rhys, before you burn even worse."

"Right! Totally. The sun. Sure is bright." Rhys dug the bottle out of wherever he'd stashed it. He slathered some on his hands then passed it to Fiona.

She took it, meeting his eyes.

They looked at each other for a moment, holding the bottle between them, their conversation swift and silent. There was a beat of silence, maybe two, before his awkward expression relaxed into something a bit more sheepish and she gave him a tiny smile.

"Hey!" Vaughn snapped his fingers at them. "You guys gonna help or just stand around grinning at each other all day?"

The moment broke and they stepped apart. Fiona examined the bottle in her hand as Rhys trailed after Vaughn, complaining loudly about Vaughn's lack of faith in his obvious ability to be helpful.

She smiled at the faded and peeling label before stowing the bottle away, adjusting her hat, and following the boys down the path.

Loader Bot had been right. It was time to go get their friend back.

**Author's Note:**

> Fanfiction always gets me to ask the important questions like "does sunblock exist in the pandoran universe? no reason why it wouldn't right? RIGHT?"


End file.
